Multiple drive window regulator



Patented Dec. 16, 1952 MULTIPLE DRIVE WINDOW REGULATOR Karl Rath, New York, N. Y., assignor to Hupp Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Virginia Application September 22, 1949, Serial No. 117,115

Claims.

The present invention relates to window regulators, more particularly, though not exclusively, for use in motor vehicles and being of the general type as disclosed in U. S. Patent application Ser. No. 790,783, filed December 10, 1947 by Peter F. Rossmann and assigned in part to the present applicant.

There is shown and described in the above application a combined manual and/ or automatic window regulator comprising a planetary gear assembly having a pair of side gears and a rotatable carrier cooperating with said side gears through at least one planet gear. According to the embodiment shown in said application, the carrier is in driving connection with the window operating mechanism, while the side gears are in driving connection with the manual and automatic driving means in the form of a hand crank or operating handle and an electric motor, respectively. The connection between the hand crank and its associated side gear includes a one-way friction or spring clutch which serves for the double purpose of locking the window during the manual operation and preventing it from reacting upon the handle by reason of its own weight or gravity, on the one hand, and ofacting as a locking means for the planetary geardrive during the motor driven operation to enable power transmission from the motor to the window. Similarly, an additional one-way coupling device, preferably in the form of a worm gear transmission, is connected between the motor and its associated side gear, to prevent power transmission between the handle to the motor shaft and to prevent reaction of or to act as a locking means for the window.

In other words, both one-way coupling means,

i. e. the spring clutch, on the one hand, and the worm gear drive, on the other hand, will be alternately efiective during the manual and auto matic operations of the window in preventing the when changing from one to the other mode of 2 operation. This in turn results in complete safety and reliability of the window control, including cases of accident, exhaustion of the car battery and other emergencies when the automatic control has become defective or inoperative.

Among the objects of the present invention is the provision of a manual and/or automatic window regulator of the above character which is both simple and compact in design; which comprises a one-way window clutch structurally combined with a multiple planetary device or coupling; which may be used in connection with standard window operating devices and will enable operation of a window both manually and/ or automatically; which can be easily installed or built in existing motor cars, without requiring special operations or changes in the car structure; and which may be manufactured in compact or unit form at low cost and suitable for quantity production.

Further objects and novel aspects of the invention will be better understood from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification and in which Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a window regulator constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section of a modified regulator construction according to the invention;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a schematic assembly view showing, by way of example, an automobile door equipped with a. window regulator according to the'invention.

Like reference numerals identify like parts in the different views of the drawing.

Referring to Fig. l, the numeral Ill represents a hand crank for manually driving a gear I l of a standard window operating mechanism including a window operating gear l2 in meshing relation with gear II, as more clearly indicated in Fig. 5. The handle Ill has a shaft [3 passing through a support or housing l4 and being secured to or integral with one of the cooperating elements I5 of a one-way spring clutch or drive release brake of generally known construction and having a cooperating clutch element IS, a coil spring [1' and cylindrical housing It, the

latter being secured to or integral with the support M, as shown in the drawing. Clutch elements [5 and are provided with inter-engaging sector-shaped axial projections 29 and 21 (see Fig. 2) designed to provide a pair of radial gaps for receiving the hooked ends 22 of the clutch spring H encirc1ing the elements 28 and 21 and having its outside surface frictionally engaging the inside of the housing l8.

In the example shown, the sector is connected to the clutch element It: and the sector 2! is connected to the clutch element 16, whereby with element l5 being rotated in either direction by the operation of the hand crank 19,

pressure will be exerted upon the inner faces of the hooked ends 22 of the clutch spring l1, thus contracting the spring and releasing it from its frictional engagement with the housing 18, in

such a manner as to allow of rotary motion to,

be transmitted freely to the clutch element [6 by way of the sector 2!. On the other hand, rotation of clutch element l5 and in turn of sector 2! will result in the latter pressing against the outer faces of the hooked ends 22 of the clutch spring l1, thus unwinding and tightening the spring firmly or looking it against the inside of housing it. As a consequence, the drive release brake acts as a resilient one-way coupling means in allowing rotary motion to be transmitted freely from the handle II) to the window operating mechanism but blocking transmission or acting as a locking means in the opposite direction.

Clutch element [6 is connected to a re-entrant or cup-shaped member 23 concentrically surrounding or bearing upon clutch housing l8 and being formed with external gear teeth 24 to act as the first side or sun gear of the lanetary gear assembly. or more planet gears 25 rotatably supported by a planetary carrier 26 in the form of a disc or spider by means of shafts 21, said planet gears being in turn in meshing relation with an outer internally toothed ring or second side gear 28. The latter is driven by an electric motor through a worm meshing with worm teeth upon its periphery during the automatic or motor driven operation of the window. The planetary carrier 26 is secured to the driven or output shaft 3| carrying the window driving pinion H by a key [9. Shaft 3| is advantageously extended and supported within a central bore of shaft 13 of the operating handle to insure concentric mounting and guidance of the various elements.

During operation, rotation of the handle Ii) will result in transmission of rotary motion to the window driving gear ll through the action of the drive release brake, sun gear teeth 24, planet gears 25 and carrier 26. During this operation, the planet gears will revolve upon the ring gear 28 held stationary by the worm 30. During the motor driven operation, rotary motion will be transmitted from the motor through the worm 30 rotating the ring gear 28 and carrier 28 by way of the planet gears 25, in which case the inner or sun gear is locked or held stationary by the action of the drive release brake, whereby the planet gears 25 revolve upon the sun gear 24, in a manner understood from the foregoing.

It is seen, therefore, from the foregoing that both the one-way drive release brake l52l and the worm gear drive 2829 serve to perform the double and alternate functions of preventing the window from reacting upon. the driving Sun gear 24 meshes with one sources or members during both the manual and automatic operations, on the one hand, and as locking means for the sun gear 24 and ring gear 28 of the differential gear assembly to enable power transmission from either of the input or driving means to the window.

The structure described herein above, wherein the drive release brake serves as a support or mounting of the planetary gear assembly which is radially aligned therewith results in a compact unit of reduced dimension especially in the axial direction, thus enabling its easy mounting in existing car door where space is limited.

Referring to Figures 3 and 4, there is shown a modified construction of a combined drive release brake and planet gear assembly of the type according to the invention. For this purpose, the drive release brake is constructed with its clutch spring I! frictionally engaging a central housing or cylindrical support 32 integral with or secured to the housing l4. Input clutch member 33. has the form of a gear meshing with a gear 35 driven by the hand crank [0. Clutch member 33 has a sector-shaped axial extension 36 interlocking with asimilar internal sector-shaped element 31 which is integral with the cup-shaped cooperating clutch output member 34. The latter is provided with external gear teeth 38 forming the inner or 'sun gear of the planetary gear assembly and cooperating with the planet gears 25 and remaining elements in substantially the same manner as in the case of Figures 1 and 2. The ends of the spring l? in this case are bent radially outwardly and inserted in the gaps between the sectors 35 and 37 as shown in Fig. 4. 'As a consequence, rotation of sector 36 by the member 33 as a result of operation of the handle It will loosen the spring I! from its friction with, the cylinder 32, in such a manner as to allow ready transmission of rotary motion for manually raising and lowering the window. On the other hand, rotation of sector 34 will result in a tightening of the spring I! upon the cylinder 32 or locking of the clutch to prevent transmission of motion in the opposite direction. Support 32 is preferably in the form of a hollow cylinder to serve as a guide for the extended shaft 40 of the window driving pinion l I. Other details of this construction are substantially similar to those described in connection with and understood from Figures 1 and 2.

Fig. 5 shows schematically a window operating mechanism mounted within an automobile door and comprising'a regulator according to the invention. Numeral 42 indicates the door, 43 represents the window vframe and 44 a window pane mounted upon a support or channel member 45. The latter serves as a guide for apair of rollers 46 which are attached to the ends of'links 41 each of which is connected to one of a' pair of operating gears or sectors I2 arranged in mutual meshing relation. One of said gears corresponds to the gear 12 shown in Fig. 1 and in turn meshes with gear ll of the regulator. Item 48 represents an electrical motor driving worm 3i]. by means of a shaft 50 and through an overload friction or slip clutch 5i of the type described in. more detail in the abovementioned co-pending application. The motor may be started to rotate in either direction by connecting it to a suitable current source such asa battery 52 through a reversible. and preferably self-centering control switch 53, in the manner shown and readily understood from the drawings. If desired, slip clutch 5| may be omitted when using a self-centering central switch 53, in that the operator will automatically release the switch and allow its return to the central or open position as soon as the window has reached one of its end positions.

As is understood, the manual and automatic drives may be inter-changed in the construction of both Fig. 3 and Fig. 5,1. e. the motor may be replaced by the handle and vice versa without substantially interfering with the operation of the regulator.

While there have been shown and described a few desirable embodiments of the invention, it is understood that this disclosure is for the purpose of illustration and that various changes in the size, shape and arrangement of parts, as well as the substitution of equivalent elements for those herein shown and described, may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. The specification and drawing are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative rather than in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In a window regulator including operating mechanism for controlling a window, multiple difierential coupling means for optionally operating said mechanism by manual and/or automatic driving means, comprising a drive release brake having a cylindrical housing, an input clutch element connected to one of said driving means and a re-entrant cup-shaped output clutch element encircling said housing, said output element being provided with a clutch portion and with gear teeth to form a sun gear, said clutch portion and gear teeth being radially aligned, an internally toothed ring gear of greater diameter than said sun gear and provided with worm teeth upon its periphery, a rotatable differential carrier having driving connection with said mechanism, at least one planet gear rotatably supported by said carrier and meshing with both said sun and ring gears, and a worm gear connectable to the other driving means and meshing with said worm teeth, said worm gear, ring gear and planet gear all being radially aligned with said clutch element.

2. In a window regulator including operating mechanism for controlling a window, multiple difierential coupling means for optionally operating said mechanism by manual and/or automatic driving means, comprising a drive release brake havng a cylindrical support, an input clutch element connected to one of said driving means, a cylindrical output element provided with gear teeth to form a sun gear, interlocking axial extensions of said elements, said sun gear being radially aligned with said axial extensions, a coil spring frictionally engaging said support and having hooked ends engaging radial gaps between said extensions, whereby to allow of rotary motion to be transmitted from said input element to said output element by release of said spring from said support and to block transmission in a reverse direction by clamping said spring against said support, an internally toothed ring gear of greater diameter than said sun gear and being provided with worm teeth upon its periphery, a rotatable differential carrier having driving connection with said mechanism, at least one planet gear rotatably supported by said carrier and meshing with both said sun and ring gears,

and a worm gear connectable to thefother driving means and meshing with said worm teeth.

3. In a window regulator including operating mechanism for controlling a window, multiple differential coupling means for optionally operating said mechanism by manual and/or automatic driving means, comprising a drive release brake having a cylindrical housing, an input clutch element connected to one of said driving means, a cylindrical output clutch element rotatable upon said housing and provided with gear teeth to form a sun gear, interlocking axial extensions of said elements, said sun gear being radially aligned with said axial extensions, a coil spring frictionally engaging the inside of said housing and having hooked ends engaging radial gaps between said extensions, whereby to allow of rotary motion to be transmitted from said input element to said output element by release of said spring from said housing and to block transmission in the reverse direction by clamping said spring against that housing, an internally toothed ring gear of greater diameter than said sun gear and being provided with worm teeth upon its periphery, a rotatable differential carrier having driving connection with said mechanism, at least one planet gear rotatably supported by said carrier and meshing with both sun and ring gears, and a Worm gear connectable to the other driving means and meshing with said worm teeth.

4. In a window regulator including operating mechanism for controlling a 'window, multiple diiierential coupling means for optionally operating said mechanism by manual and/or automatic driving means, comprising a drive release brake having an inner cylindrical support, an input clutch element connected to one of said driving members, a cylindrical output clutch element concentric to said support and provided with gear teeth to form a sun gear, interlocking axial extensions of said elements, said sun gear being radially aligned with said axial extensions, a coil spring frictionally engaging the outside of said support and having ends bent from said coil and engaging radial gaps between said extensions, whereby to allow of rotary motion to be transmitted from said input element to said output element by expansion and release of said spring from said support and to block transmission in the reverse direction by contraction and clamping of said spring upon said support, an internally toothed ring gear of greater diameter than said sun gear and provided with worm teeth upon its mechanism by manual and/or automatic driving means, comprising a, drive release brake having an input element connected to one of said driving means and a cylindrical output element provided with gear teeth to form a sun gear, rotatable differential ring gear and carrier members, said ring gear being of greater diameter and coaxial with said sun gear, at least one planet gear rotatably supported by said carrier and meshing with both 7 said sun and ring gears, and further one-way UNITED STATESHPATENTS coupling means connected to. and uni-direc- Number Name C Date tionally driving one. of said members by the other 787 788 Pinard Apr 13, 1905 said driving means, said drive releasebrake and 1 651:652 Carlson May 6 1928 ai fur her ne-w y upling means bein 5 11965378 Briggs July 1934 radially ahgned- 2,001,758 Zwierzing May 21, 1935 KARL RATH- 2,387,713 Bradford Oct. 30, 1945 2,437,646 Matulaitus Mar. 9, 1948 REFERENCES CITED 2,452,178 Brownlee Oct. 26, 1948 The following references are of record in the 10 file of this patent: 

